OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – Groundbreaking work at two Department of Energy national laboratories has confirmed plutonium’s magnetism, which scientists have long theorized but have never been able to experimentally observe.

The advances that enabled the discovery hold great promise for materials, energy and computing applications.

Led by Fuller Lodge Art Center art instructor Olivia Snyder, her class of 12-14 year old artists are transforming Entrance Park and creating a façade of the iconic main gate from the Manhattan Project era. Entrance Park will function as an information booth for ScienceFest Saturday, July 18.

The only science festival in the state, Los Alamos ScienceFest is a 5-day festival that celebrates Los Alamos, New Mexico as a center of science and creativity.

WIPP employees unload sections of the SVS early this week at the WIPP facility. Courtesy/WIPP

WIPP News:

Sections of the new Supplemental Ventilation System (SVS) arrived this week at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad.

The SVS is designed to increase the total amount of air supplied to the underground. The fan assembly underwent factory acceptance testing last week and arrived at the WIPP facility early this week. The fan and associated equipment will be transported to the WIPP underground in four pieces where it will be assembled by WIPP personnel.

At 5:29:21 MT July 16, 1945, Manhattan Project scientists conducted the world’s first atomic bomb test at the Trinity site near Alamogordo. The Atomic Heritage Foundation is pleased to feature dozens of audio/visual interviews with Trinity test eyewitnesses on the “Voices of the Manhattan Project.” From Manhattan Project director General Leslie R. Groves to scientists and soldiers, they recall the overwhelming force and terrifying beauty of the first nuclear explosion.

The nearly limitless energy source that is student enthusiasm for games, music, and shirking real work, was successfully harnessed this afternoon, June 9 in Urban Park. The event was a fantastic success.

To get in the spirit of ScienceFest, PEEC is screening Fantastic Fractals.

Join host and Fractal Foundation Executive Director Jonathan Wolfe as he presents a full-dome planetarium show that explores infinitely complex mathematical fractals in nature. This award-winning program features original music, and is educational, entertaining, and amazing.

This planetarium show is $5, and will screen at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, July 18 at the Los Alamos Nature Center. Seating is limited.